In the practice of medicine, medical personnel frequently need to administer injections to patients. Occasionally, when it is desired to administer an injection to the patient, an intravenous catheter leading directly into the patient's bloodstream has already been attached. Such catheters consist of a fluid container connected to a metal or plastic needle by an IV tubing. U.S. Pat. No. 3,469,579 discloses a catheter needle and hub (which connects the needle to the catheter) made from different materials and a manner of manufacturing such an arrangement.
If the patient is already attached to an intravenous catheter then the drugs are occasionally administered directly into the intravenous tubing that leads from the fluid container directly into the patient's bloodstream (via the catheter needle). This dispenses with the need to pierce the patient's skin to administer the injection. The needles typically used for these purposes, however, were originally designed for phlebotomies. Hence, the needles are quite capable of penetrating human skin as well as the membranes of medicine bottles and intravenous tubing.
In administering injections, a phlebotomy needle comprising a sharp, slender metal or plastic tube, is attached to a hand-held syringe. While attached to the syringe, the needle is inserted into a medicine bottle covered by a membrane, and the syringe plunger retracted to draw medication into the syringe. Typically, this step is performed while holding the inverted medicine bottle with one hand and the syringe with the other hand. Once the medication has been drawn into the syringe, and air removed therefrom, the administrator typically grasps the intravenous tubing with one hand and, operating the syringe with the other hand, inserts the needle into the tubing and forces the plunger back into the syringe body to inject the medication. Thereafter, the needle is withdrawn using one hand to grasp the tubing and one hand to remove the syringe. The needle, now in a contaminated state, is typically discarded.
During all of these steps, the danger of accidental needle pricks are ever present. Accidental needle pricks by contaminated needles risk the communication of diseases carried by human blood such as AIDS or hepatitis. These risks are present even for those who administer intravenous injections as studies document that the patient's blood will move retrograde out of the patient's body and into the intravenous bottle and tubing. Thus, after an injection, the needle may be contaminated by the patient's blood and any blood diseases carried therein. Further, maintenance personnel, who come into contact with contaminated needles, may also accidentally prick themselves. Hence, it is an object of the present invention to provide a needle capable of performing intravenous injections, i.e., puncturing intravenous tubing and medicine bottle membranes, yet resistant to accidental pricking of human skin tissue.